Genesis on Green World
Columns
Benson C Saili
THIS EARTH, MY BROTHER…
- Life bursts forth on Orion planet
Mankind has since the days of yore worshiped beings from other star systems for two reasons mainly.
Firstly, we ourselves are star beings. At the physical level, we originate not from the substance of Earth but from that of the stars. We arose on Earth from the seeds of life that were propagated here by star beings.
Secondly, since we only recently arose in terms of cosmic reckoning, the star beings who fast-tracked our evolution (through genetic engineering as we shall demonstrate in due course) are by far more sophisticated scientifically, technologically, and in their knowledge of genetic engineering. As such, in our formative stages, we were so dazzled by their technology and their longevity that we resorted to calling them gods. Some of them in fact of their own whim brainwashed us into treating them like gods by way of worship and supine subservience.
Now, in this counterfeit universe created and run by a fallen archangel dubbed Lucifer (and famously known as “The Devil”), all forms of life begin from primitive forms. In other words, they evolve from lower forms to higher forms. In the case of our genotype, we started as single celled organisms, then progressed to insect-types, to four-legged animals, and finally to humanoids like we presently are. This process takes millions to billions of years. It is a deliberate tactic by Lucifer to exploit us maximally.
Yet the insect, animal, and humanoid stages are relatively advanced stages of our physical evolution. The cycle actually follows this sequence: sub-atomic particles; minerals; plants; insect/animals; humanoids. Each level supports the one above it. Forget about what you were taught in science in high school – that there are living and non-living organisms. It’s simply not true. All things, including rocks, are living things. The only difference is the sophistication of consciousness. Higher-order organisms such as humanoids, for instance, are more aware of their existence than lower-order organisms. And some lower-order organisms such as animals, for instance, operate by a group conscience, whereas humanoids have an individual conscience.
You may wonder as to why things such as rocks or soil would have a conscience. Well, think about this: as you know from elementary high school science, an atom (of a solid) does not simply stay still. It vibrates about an equilibrium position. In other words, it is always in motion but in a static position. What makes it do that? It is a form of consciousness of course but which sadly eludes scientists. You should also bear in mind that the building blocks of our cellular structures are minerals or elements. Among these are oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, sodium, iron, chlorine, and iodine. All these are found in the Earth’s crust. Soils contain dissolved minerals which are incorporated and stored by plants for our consumption or eaten by an animal that we later consume. The earth’s crust contains most of the mineral nutrients our body requires. Eight main elements the body needs account for more than 98 percent of the crust’s composition. We are literally made from dust as Genesis correctly puts it and hence we have to return to dust physically upon our demise.
With regard to plants, as early as the 1950s Ronald Hubbard was performing experiments to demonstrate that plants can feel pain because they have a conscience. The legendary Zulu shaman, Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, says every time he has somebody healed using a particular herb or plant which he grows in his backyard, he puts some coins by the plant as a symbolic gesture of thanks. Why does he do that? Because he’s aware plants have a conscience and as such they would greatly appreciate his gesture of gratitude at a telepathic level although they have no use for the money itself.
As for animals, the Hopis (Native Americans of the US) provide a resounding paradigm as to the sanctity of animals. Even in their primitive days, they never simply randomly and savagely killed animals for food. Before they killed an animal for food and other uses, they first made an offering to the spirit of the animal, asking it to sacrifice its physical life and expressing their gratitudes for such an eventuality. Then the animal would voluntarily show up in their vicinities, usually an aged one or one which was somewhat incapacitated, whereupon they would kill it not ferociously but humanely. The Hopis, arguably one of the most spiritual people on Earth, were aware animals too had a conscience and that an animal which thought it was unfairly killed generated certain hormones in its system just before death that could have deleterious effects on the health and even spiritual wellbeing of humans in due course.
Now, if here on Earth all life forms have to evolve, it means the process is the same throughout the universe because we’re all part of the same cosmos with similar although not necessarily the same natural laws. As such, the very star beings who sowed the seeds of life here on Earth that gave rise to us also underwent the same evolutionary process. These star beings were from Orion.
KHEB INSECT EVOLVES
The first planet to develop life through evolution in the Orion star system has at times been referred to as the Green World because green is the colour that is generally assigned to Reptoids inasmuch as the baseline colour of the worker class of the Reptoid world, the mainstream class, is green.
All life begins in a watery habitat – a sea, a lake, a river, a pond, etc. In their evolutionary metamorphosis, the Reptoids of the Green World began as crawling insects in this same watery habitat. In time, the wriggling insects learnt how to leap, skip, and hop across the surface of the water in their survivalist search for food. Generations later, the insects developed a set of wings so that they could easily reach out to and scoop their prey. The reptilian insects were carnivorous from birth. They were cannibalistic: whilst they dwelt in the ponds, they used to feed on each other when food was scarce.
The insect genotype that was the first to dominate its species on the Green World looked like a dragonfly. It also had traits and characteristics of a bee. If it arose on Earth, we would call it a dragonfly-bee. In the ancient records, however, it is referred to as a KHEB.
The KHEBS laid their eggs in the ponds. The newly-born KHEBS looked like microscopic scorpions, with tiny stingers on their tails and tiny pincer claws on their forelegs. The moment they were born, the KHEBS went to war – with each other. They fought for territory straight from birth and they killed straight from birth – very much in keeping with Reptilian humanoids we’re familiar with here on our planet.
In time, the KHEBS left the watery ambience to dwell on dry land but in the trees. Here, another transformation took place. The KHEBS no longer looked like a dragonfly-bee but like a mantis. By then, their outer skins had hardened into a tough shell.
How did the KHEBS reproduce? For ages, they produced asexually, that is, without the involvement of a male KHEB. This was not by choice: the male species had not appeared at this stage. As we said at some stage, evolution is such that female creatures appear first. Male creatures follow at a later stage. These are millions and billions of years we’re talking about.
KHEB INSECTS BECOME REPTILES
At long last, a genetic mutation in the KHEB females caused KHEB males to come into existence. The KHEB species was now able to reproduce sexually. In other words, the KHEBS were capable of producing either sexually or asexually depending on their preference or environmental factors such as climate for instance. Remember, the KHEBS had part-characteristics of bees and bees even in our day produce either way, sexually or asexually. When the eggs are fertilised by male seed (sexual reproduction), they will always produce a female. When they are not fertilised by male seed (asexual reproduction), they will always produce a male. This is what was happening to the KHEBS as well.
However, for the KHEB females to produce sexually, it necessitated a certain transformation in their internal organs. This change was necessary to permit conception. Before the advent of male KHEBS, female KHEBS routinely survived on the nectar of plants or the flesh of other insect species. Now they needed to feed on the blood of other creatures. The female KHEBS had become vampires, like what malevolent Reptoids (humanoids who evolved from reptiles) are today.
Relates one chronicler: “After the female KHEBS gorged themselves with the blood of other creatures, they returned to their nest to await the change. When they were ready, they rose up into the sky, flying as high as they possibly could, and awaited the approach of the KHEB males. By rising as high as they could in the sky, females were assured that only the strongest and the most determined males would be able to reach them. This would ensure that they would have strong and vitally healthy offspring. Capable of mating several times, the females remained in their 'heavenly place' until they were filled with male seed. Then, by descending to their chosen ponds, the females deposited their eggs and returned to their nests … and the cycle began again.”
As time went by, in billions of years, the KHEBS became large, flying reptiles. But their large wingspans severely burdened their locomotion in the dense forests and shrubs since their main prey like vultures was ground-based. The KHEBS had no option but to come down to terra firma if they had to survive. They just had to learn to hunt by giving chase to prey through jungles and thickets. They were able to do this by tucking their wings close to their bodies. They were dazzling sprinters these KHEBS: if we were to go by reptile ancestors here on Earth, they could reach speeds of up to 12 metres per second, only a little bit slower than a vintage Usain Bolt!
At this stage, the male KHEBS had “bony plates all over their bodies and arms and legs, much like the dinosaurs of Earth in the long ago prehistoric eras. They had a ridge of short plates with semi-sharp edges, that began near their forehead, trailed back and over their skull and down their backs, gradually tapering down on their short slender tail (like a Tokoloshe).” All the while, the KHEBS retained the ability to fly. “And though its new form allowed it to become a deadly predator on the ground in the forests and jungles, the KHEB creature’s upper torso and wings never lost their incredible ability to lift the creature up into the sky and dart through the air.”
At some stage, the KHEB reptiles began to branch into several related species. Some specialised as lizards, others as dinosaurs and still others as snakes. It was the latter species, the snake strain, that proliferated on the Green World. Even among the snake species, there were branches. Here on Earth, we have more than 3000 snake species. The Green world must have had a similar number of serpent strains too.
KHEBS BECOME HUMANOIDS
In the course of evolution, genetic instructions were such that the KHEB males were physically smaller than the KHEB females. This indeed is true of the overwhelming majority of reptiles: females are typically larger than males. It is only among mammals and birds that males are predominantly larger than females.
But there was one major development with the KHEB females on the Green World that was particularly significant. A glitch in their physiology rendered them poisonous. Relates the same chronicler quoted above: “Something happened to the female KHEB that did not happen to the males. The changes in their bodies that produced the hormones necessary for the production of offspring also produced a fluid that was acidic and highly poisonous to other creatures! The KHEB Reptilian female could protect themselves and their nests by spitting natural venom into the eyes and faces of their victims. A stream of hot acidic fluid that struck the face of an enemy could cause nerve-numbing paralysis or blindness. If there was an open wound or the venom entered the gullet of the victim, death was almost always certain. And woe be to any enemy that felt the fangs of the female KHEB.” The KHEB females were resultantly much more feared than the KHEB males.
In time, the KHEBS became the most dominant life form on the Green World. It was the KHEBS who became the first humanoid species to evolve on the Green World. And just as we Earthlings have lost much of the features and traits of the animal from which we evolved, an ape-like creature, the KHEBS also lost a great deal of the very distinct Reptilian and insect features of their ancestors. They no longer had scales, for example, and could no longer fly. But unlike us, they were smooth through and through: they didn’t have a single strand of hair on their bodies because they evolved from a hairless insect strain which metamorphosed into a hairless serpentine creature. In terms of skin texture, they were very much like the Ebens of planet Serpo, who also evolved from a serpentine creature (see Zeta Series).
These first Reptoids to emerge on the Green World were known as the SURBAH. SURBAH is a compound word, with SUR standing for “majestic” and BAH meaning “being”. SURBAH therefore meant “Royal Race”. It is the term SURBAH which gives us the Sanskrit word sarpha; the Latin word serpens; and the English word serpent.
The serpent race folks was the first to arise, by way of evolution, in the Milky Way Galaxy.
NEXT WEEK: WE MEET OUR GOD-MOTHER
Columns
GONE FISHING
In recent years, using personal devices in working environments has become so commonplace it now has its own acronym, BOYD (Bring Your Own Device). But as employees skip between corporate tools and personal applications on their own devices, their actions introduce a number of possible risks that should be managed and mitigated with careful consideration. Consider these examples:
Si-lwli, a small family-run business in Wales, is arguably as niche a company as you could find, producing talking toys used to promote the Welsh language. Their potential market is small, with only some 300,000 Welsh language speakers in the world and in reality the business is really more of a hobby for the husband-and-wife team, who both still have day jobs. Yet, despite still managing to be successful in terms of sales, the business is now fighting for survival after recently falling prey to cybercriminals. Emails between Si-Iwli and their Chinese suppliers were intercepted by hackers who altered the banking details in the correspondence, causing Si-Iwli to hand over £18,000 (around P ¼ m) to the thieves. That might not sound much to a large enterprise, but to a small or medium business it can be devastating.
Another recent SMB hacking story which appeared in the Wall Street Journal concerned Innovative Higher Ed Consulting (IHED) Inc, a small New York start-up with a handful of employees. IHED didn’t even have a website, but fraudsters were able to run stolen credit card numbers through the company’s payment system and reverse the charges to the tune of $27,000, around the same loss faced by Si-Iwli. As the WSJ put it, the hackers completely destroyed the company, forcing its owners to fold.
And in May 2019, the city of Baltimore’s computer system was hit by a ransomware attack, with hackers using a variant called RobinHood. The hack, which has lasted more than a month, paralysed the computer system for city employees, with the hackers demanding a payment in Bitcoin to give access back to the city.
Of course, hackers target governments or business giants but small and medium businesses are certainly not immune. In fact, 67% of SMBs reported that they had experienced a cyber attack across a period of 12 months, according to a 2018 survey carried out by security research firm Ponemon Institute. Additionally, Verizon issued a report in May 2019 that small businesses accounted for 43% of its reported data breaches. Once seen as less vulnerable than PCs, smartphone attacks are on the rise, with movements like the Dark Caracal spyware campaign underlining the allure of mobile devices to hackers. Last year, the US Federal Trade Commission released a statement calling for greater education on mobile security, coming at a time when around 42% of all Android devices are believed to not carry the latest security updates.
This is an era when employees increasingly use their smartphones for work-related purposes so is your business doing enough to protect against data breaches on their employees’ phones? The SME Cyber Crime Survey 2018 carried out for risk management specialists AON showed that more than 80% of small businesses did not view this as a threat yet if as shown, 67% of SMBs were said to have been victims of hacking, either the stats are wrong or business owners are underestimating their vulnerability. A 2019 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests the latter, stating that the majority of global businesses are unprepared for cyber attacks.
Consider that a workstation no longer means a desk in an office: It can be a phone in the back of a taxi or Uber; a laptop in a coffee shop, or a tablet in an airport lounge. Wherever the device is used, employees can potentially install applications that could be harmful to your business, even from something as seemingly insignificant as clicking on an accidental download or opening a link on a phishing email. Out of the physical workplace, your employees’ activities might not have the same protections as they would on a company-monitored PC.
Yet many businesses not only encourage their employees to work remotely, but assume working from coffee shops, bookstores, and airports can boost employees’ productivity. Unfortunately, many remote hot spots do not provide secure Wi-Fi so if your employee is accessing their work account on unsecured public Wi-Fi, sensitive business data could be at risk. Furthermore, even if your employee uses a company smartphone or has access to company data through a personal mobile device, there is always a chance data could be in jeopardy with a lost or stolen device, even information as basic as clients’ addresses and phone numbers.
BOYDs are also at risk from malware designed to harm and infect the host system, transmittable to smartphones when downloading malicious third-party apps. Then there is ransomware, a type of malware used by hackers to specifically take control of a system’s data, blocking access or threatening to release sensitive information unless a ransom is paid such as the one which affected Baltimore. Ransomware attacks are on the increase, predicted to occur every 14 seconds, potentially costing billions of dollars per year.
Lastly there is phishing – the cyber equivalent of the metaphorical fishing exercise – whereby cybercriminals attempt to obtain sensitive data –usernames, passwords, credit card details –usually through a phoney email designed to look legitimate which directs the user to a fraudulent website or requests the data be emailed back directly. Most of us like to think we could recognize a phishing email when we see it, but these emails have become more sophisticated and can come through other forms of communication such as messaging apps.
Bottom line is to be aware of the potential problems with BOYDs and if in doubt, consult your IT security consultants. You can’t put the own-device genie back in the bottle but you can make data protection one of your three wishes!
Columns
“I Propose to Diana Tonight”
About five days before Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed landed in Paris, General Atiku, a certain Edward Williams was taking a walk in a woods in the Welsh town of Mountain Ash. Williams, then 73, was a psychic of some renown. He had in the past foretold assassination attempts on US President Ronald Reagan, which occurred on March 30, 1981, and Pope John Paul II, which came to pass on May 13, 1981.
As he trudged the woods, Williams had a sudden premonition that pointed to Diana’s imminent fate as per Christopher Andersen’s book The Day Diana Died. “When the vision struck me, it was as if everything around me was obscured and replaced by shadowy figures,” Williams was later to reminisce. “In the middle was the face of Princess Diana. Her expression was sad and full of pathos. She was wearing what looked like a floral dress with a short dark cardigan. But it was vague. I went cold with fear and knew it was a sign that she was in danger.”
Williams hastily beat a retreat to his home, which he shared with his wife Mary, and related to her his presentiment, trembling like an aspen leaf as he did so. “I have never seen him so upset,” Mary recounted. “He felt he was given a sign and when he came back from his walk he was deeply shaken.”
The following day, Williams frantically sauntered into a police station to inform the police of his premonition. The officer who attended to him would have dismissed him as no more than a crackpot but he treated him seriously in view of the accuracy of his past predictions. He took a statement and immediately passed it on to the Special Branch Investigative Unit.
The report read as follows:
“On 27 August, at 14:12 hrs, a man by the name of Edward Williams came to Mountain Ash police station. He said he was a psychic and predicted that Princess Diana was going to die. In previous years, he has predicted that the Pope and Ronald Reagan were going to be the victims of assassination attempts. On both occasions he was proved to be correct. Mr Williams appeared to be quite normal.”
Williams, General, was spot-on as usual: four days later, the princess was no more.
Meanwhile, General, even as Dodi and Diana were making their way to the Fayed-owned Ritz Hotel in central Paris, British newspapers were awash with headlines that suggested Diana was kind of deranged. Writes Andrew Morton in Diana in Pursuit of Love: “In The Independent Diana was described as ‘a woman with fundamentally nothing to say about anything’. She was ‘suffering from a form of arrested development’. ‘Isn’t it time she started using her head?’ asked The Mail on Sunday. The Sunday Mirror printed a special supplement entitled ‘A Story of Love’; The News of the World claimed that William had demanded that Diana should split from Dodi: ‘William can’t help it, he just doesn’t like the man.’ William was reportedly ‘horrified’ and ‘doesn’t think Mr Fayed is good for his mother’ – or was that just the press projecting their own prejudices? The upmarket Sunday Times newspaper, which had first serialised my biography of the princess, now put her in the psychiatrist’s chair for daring to be wooed by a Muslim. The pop-psychologist Oliver James put Diana ‘On the Couch’, asking why she was so ‘depressed’ and desperate for love. Other tabloids piled in with dire prognostications – about Prince Philip’s hostility to the relationship, Diana’s prospect of exile, and the social ostracism she would face if she married Dodi.”
DIANA AND DODI AT THE RITZ
Before Diana and Dodi departed the Villa Windsor sometime after 16 hrs, General, one of Dodi’s bodyguards Trevor Rees-Jones furtively asked Diana as to what the programme for the evening was. This Trevor did out of sheer desperation as Dodi had ceased and desisted from telling members of his security detail, let alone anyone else for that matter, what his onward destination was for fear that that piece of information would be passed on to the paparazzi. Diana kindly obliged Trevor though her response was terse and scarcely revealing. “Well, eventually we will be going out to a restaurant”, that was all Diana said. Without advance knowledge of exactly what restaurant that was, Trevor and his colleagues’ hands were tied: they could not do a recce on it as was standard practice for the security team of a VIP principal. Dodi certainly, General, was being recklessly by throwing such caution to the winds.
At about 16:30, Diana and Dodi drew up at the Ritz Hotel, where they were received by acting hotel manager Claude Roulet. The front entrance of the hotel was already crawling with paparazzi, as a result of which the couple took the precaution of using the rear entrance, where hopefully they would make their entry unperturbed and unmolested. The first thing they did when they were ensconced in the now $10,000 a night Imperial Suite was to spend some time on their mobiles and set about touching base with friends, relations, and associates. Diana called at least two people, her clairvoyant friend Rita Rogers and her favourite journalist Richard Kay of The Daily Mail.
Rita, General, was alarmed that Diana had proceeded to venture to Paris notwithstanding the warning she had given Dodi and herself in relation to what she had seen of him in the crystal ball when the couple had consulted her. When quizzed as to what the hell she indeed was doing in Paris at that juncture, Diana replied that she and Dodi had simply come to do some shopping, which though partially true was not the material reason they were there. “But Diana, remember what I told Dodi,” Rita said somewhat reprovingly. Diana a bit apprehensively replied, “Yes I remember. I will be careful. I promise.” Well, she did not live up to her promise as we shall soon unpack General.
As for Richard Kay, Diana made known to him that, “I have decided I am going to radically change my life. I am going to complete my obligations to charities and to the anti-personnel land mines cause, but in November I want to completely withdraw from formal public life.”
Once she was done with her round of calls, Diana went down to the hair saloon by the hotel swimming pool to have her hair washed and blow-dried ahead of the scheduled evening dinner.
THE “TELL ME YES” RING IS DELIVERED
Since the main object of their Paris trip was to pick up the “Tell Me Yes” engagement ring Dodi had ordered in Monte Carlo a week earlier, Dodi decided to check on Repossi Jewellery, which was right within the Ritz prencincts, known as the Place Vendome. It could have taken less than a minute for Dodi to get to the store on foot but he decided to use a car to outsmart the paparazzi invasion. He was driven there by Trevor Rees-Jones, with Alexander Kez Wingfield and Claude Roulet following on foot, though he entered the shop alone.
The Repossi store had closed for the holiday season but Alberto Repossi, accompanied by his wife and brother-in-law, had decided to travel all the way from his home in Monaco and momentarily open it for the sake of the potentially highly lucrative Dodi transaction. Alberto, however, disappointed Dodi as the ring he had chosen was not the one he produced. The one he showed Dodi was pricier and perhaps more exquisite but Dodi was adamant that he wanted the exact one he had ordered as that was what Diana herself had picked. It was a ploy on the part of Repossi to make a real killing on the sale, his excuse to that effect being that Diana deserved a ring tha was well worthy of her social pedigree. With Dodi having expressed disaffection, Repossi rendered his apologies and assured Dodi he would make the right ring available shortly, whereupon Dodi repaired back to the hotel to await its delivery. But Dodi did insist nonetheless that the pricier ring be delivered too in case it appealed to Diana anyway.
Repossi delivered the two rings an hour later. They were collected by Roulet. On inspecting them, Dodi chose the very one he had seen in Monte Carlo, apparently at the insistence of Diana. There is a possibility that Diana, who was very much aware of her public image and was not comfortable with ostentatious displays of wealth, may have deliberately shown an interest in a less expensive engagement ring. It may have been a purely romantic as opposed to a prestigious choice for her.
The value of the ring, which was found on a wardrobe shelf in Dodi’s apartment after the crash, has been estimated to be between $20,000 and $250,000 as Repossi has always refused to be drawn into revealing how much Dodi paid for it. The sum, which enjoyed a 25 percent discount, was in truth paid for not by Dodi himself but by his father as was the usual practice.
Dodi was also shown Repossi’s sketches for a bracelet, a watch, and earrings which he proposed to create if Diana approved of them.
DIANA AND DODI GUSH OVER IMMINENT NUPTIALS
At about 7 pm, Dodi and Diana left the Ritz and headed for Dodi’s apartment at a place known as the Arc de Trompe. They went there to properly tog themselves out for the scheduled evening dinner. They spent two hours at the luxurious apartment. As usual, the ubiquitous paparazzi were patiently waiting for them there.
As they lingered in the apartment, Dodi beckoned over to his butler Rene Delorm and showed him the engagement ring. “Dodi came into my kitchen,” Delorm relates. “He looked into the hallway to check that Diana couldn’t hear and reached into his pocket and pulled out the box … He said, ‘Rene, I’m going to propose to the princess tonight. Make sure that we have champagne on ice when we come back from dinner’.” Rene described the ring as “a spectacular diamond encrusted ring, a massive emerald surrounded by a cluster of diamonds, set on a yellow and white gold band sitting in a small light-grey velvet box”.
Just before 9 pm, Dodi called the brother of his step-father, Hassan Yassen, who also was staying at the Ritz that night, and told him that he hoped to get married to Diana by the end of the year.
Later that same evening, both Dodi and Diana would talk to Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi’s dad, and make known to him their pre-nuptial intentions. “They called me and said we’re coming back (to London) on Sunday (August 31) and on Monday (September 1) they are
Columns
RAMADAN – The Blessed Month of Fasting
Ramadan is the fasting month for Muslims, where over one billion Muslims throughout the world fast from dawn to sunset, and pray additional prayers at night. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to Allah, and self-control. It is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. As you read this Muslims the world over have already begun fasting as the month of Ramadan has commenced (depending on the sighting of the new moon).
‘The month of Ramadan is that in which the Qur’an was revealed as guidance for people, in it are clear signs of guidance and Criterion, therefore whoever of you who witnesses this month, it is obligatory on him to fast it. But whoever is ill or traveling let him fast the same number of other days, God desires ease for you and not hardship, and He desires that you complete the ordained period and glorify God for His guidance to you, that you may be grateful”. Holy Qur’an (2 : 185)
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars upon which the structure of Islam is built. The other four are: the declaration of one’s belief in Allah’s oneness and in the message of Muhammad (PBUH); regular attendance to prayer; payment of zakaat (obligatory charity); and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
As explained in an earlier article, fasting includes total abstinence from eating, drinking, smoking, refraining from obscenity, avoiding getting into arguments and including abstaining from marital relations, from sunrise to sunset. While fasting may appear to some as difficult Muslims see it as an opportunity to get closer to their Lord, a chance to develop spiritually and at the same time the act of fasting builds character, discipline and self-restraint.
Just as our cars require servicing at regular intervals, so do Muslims consider Ramadan as a month in which the body and spirit undergoes as it were a ‘full service’. This ‘service’ includes heightened spiritual awareness both the mental and physical aspects and also the body undergoing a process of detoxification and some of the organs get to ‘rest’ through fasting.
Because of the intensive devotional activity fasting, Ramadan has a particularly high importance, derived from its very personal nature as an act of worship but there is nothing to stop anyone from privately violating Allah’s commandment of fasting if one chooses to do so by claiming to be fasting yet eating on the sly. This means that although fasting is obligatory, its observance is purely voluntary. If a person claims to be a Muslim, he is expected to fast in Ramadan.
The reward Allah gives for proper fasting is very generous. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) quotes Allah as saying: “All actions done by a human being are his own except fasting, which belongs to Me and I will reward it accordingly.” We are also told by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that the reward for proper fasting is admittance into heaven.
Fasting earns great reward when it is done in a ‘proper’ manner. This is because every Muslim is required to make his worship perfect. For example perfection of fasting can be achieved through restraint of one’s feelings and emotions. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said that when fasting, a person should not allow himself to be drawn into a quarrel or a slanging match. He teaches us: “On a day of fasting, let no one of you indulge in any obscenity, or enter into a slanging match. Should someone abuse or fight him, let him respond by saying: ‘I am fasting!’”
This high standard of self-restraint fits in well with fasting, which is considered as an act of self-discipline. Islam requires us to couple patience with voluntary abstention from indulgence in our physical desires. The purpose of fasting helps man to attain a high degree of sublimity, discipline and self-restraint. In other words, this standard CAN BE achieved by every Muslim who knows the purpose of fasting and strives to fulfill it.
Fasting has another special aspect. It makes all people share in the feelings of hunger and thirst. In normal circumstances, people with decent income may go from one year’s end to another without experiencing the pangs of hunger which a poor person may feel every day of his life. Such an experience helps to draw the rich one’s conscience nearer to needs of the poor. A Muslim is encouraged to be more charitable and learns to give generously for a good cause.
Fasting also has a universal or communal aspect to it. As Muslims throughout the world share in this blessed act of worship, their sense of unity is enhanced by the fact that every Muslim individual joins willingly in the fulfillment of this divine commandment. This is a unity of action and purpose, since they all fast in order to be better human beings. As a person restrains himself from the things he desires most, in the hope that he will earn Allah’s pleasure, self-discipline and sacrifice become part of his nature.
The month of Ramadan can aptly be described as a “season of worship.” Fasting is the main aspect of worship in this month, because people are more attentive to their prayers, read the Qur’an more frequently and also strive to improve on their inner and outer character. Thus, their devotion is more complete and they feel much happier in Ramadan because they feel themselves to be closer to their Creator.